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You Can Still Run Google Maps on a Phone When Connected to Android Auto

If Android Auto is your daily driver, you probably noticed that it also comes with a series of limitations (not as many as CarPlay, of course), including some related to the apps you can run on your phone.
Google Maps on Android Auto 1 photo
Photo: Google
One of the most annoying for a number of drivers is Android Auto blocking Google Maps on the Android phone.

In other words, if Google Maps is already running on your car’s head unit through Android Auto and you also want to launch the app on the mobile device, this isn’t possible.

In case you’re wondering who does that, there are lots of people who’d rather rely on their mobile devices to configure their destination rather than on Android Auto. This is because it’s much faster to do the whole thing on the smartphone, especially if touch input isn’t available in the car.

There are several ways to deal with this limitation, and the first of them is to just configure your destination on the mobile phone in Google Maps before plugging in the cable and launching Android Auto.

Then, you can just use the keyboard that shows up on the mobile phone to type the destination and thus get around the input limitations that you car’s head unit comes with.

But on the other hand, if you want to run Google Maps on you car’s screen when Android Auto has already launched, what you need to do is switch to Waze first. And then, just launch Google Maps normally on your mobile device. This means Google Maps can’t be active in both places at the same time, and bypassing the limitation works by running Waze on your car’s screen.

Of course, it takes some time to switch from one app to another, so it’s not really convenient for everyone, but it’s one way to do the whole thing despite the actual Google Maps restriction.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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